Shadow's Mirror

Scott Covert, Tom Delaney, Marc Armitano Domingo, Andrew Durgin-Barnes, Raina Hamner, Jeremy Jansen, Jennie Jieun Lee, Lary7, Sabrina Mansouri, Silky Shoemaker

"There can be no rebirth without a dark night of the soul, a total annihilation of all that you believed in and thought that you were."

—Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Thinking Like the Universe: The Sufi Path of Awakening

Shadow's Mirror is an exhibition of 10 artists opening at the explosive end of cruelest April: a month populated by holidays reflecting ancient themes of death and rebirth. We initially wanted to open this show on Holy Saturday (the day marking Christ’s harrowing of Hell) yet needed more time to breathe. Seeds needed more time to germinate in the ground. Shadow's Mirror is another portal reflecting what’s currently happening in nature: life returning, rebirth out of the tomb of winter, light returning at a longer frequency.

This show reflects a rebirth within the three of us, our relationships with each other and ourselves. A great egg coming from the sky, intertwined with at least one serpent. Known as the cosmic egg or Orphic egg, this symbol represents the source of the universe and potential for new beginnings.

"Body split down the middle like sunlight and shadow"

—William Burroughs

All of our exhibitions turn out to be transformative portals that we enter into and exist in. Each exhibit requires a ritualistic closing performance to seal in the energy. Energy that starts as an enthusiastic idea, becomes a collective conversation (with all the artists involved) and can’t even be seen until after the room clears following the opening reception. It’s a wild trip.

"Spirits speaking from a place of sleepless night

Higher synchronistic forces, beyond us

at speeds which are often difficult to keep up with

Through the fire, to the limit, to the wall

Reflections in the black mirror of shadow

Subtle body of limitless form

The ongoing stream of our own mind - continuing through lifetimes

Past incarnations against a background of burnt brown and magenta

Describing a world whose reason for being has not yet been found"

Our first exhibition at our new location on Via Vespucci, Skeletal Hand on a Glass Harmonica, served as an invocation of voices emanating from the deity of Mother Earth (she knows your name & remembers everything). Banks Violette’s enormous duct tape mural (reflecting the work of The Process Church) was a visual portal, a constant reminder of the kind of space we were in.

Our second exhibition, Spectral Stepping, ascended upwards into the cosmic realms. Relationships with cosmic beings (non human intelligences) were on full display. Infinite intelligence seeking to reach us.

Since moving the gallery to Brooklyn, we have operated as a triangle. This relationship often reflects a sense of high witchery; gaining empathetic access to one another’s dreams and soul journeys. In addition to running the gallery, we are in a band together (Sandy Smiles) and coordinate a quarterly night of music. The combination of all this work and dreaming has had the exciting ability to take over our lives, both dreaming and awake.

"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true, either is true or becomes true within certain limits. These limits are to be found experientially and experimentally. When the limits are determined, it is found that they are further beliefs to be transcended. In the province of the mind, there are no limits. The body imposes definite limits."

―John C. Lilly, The Deep Self: Consciousness Exploration in the Isolation Tank

This current exhibition is a reflection on death and rebirth. It continues our work with artists who remain our trusted friends through time. Artists whose works reflect their own paths, much in the way these exhibits reflect our lives. The boundaries between art and life remain illusory. We are excited to enter this new collective portal of re-birth and see where it takes us.